UN Chief Meets With 87-Year-Old Fidel Castro in Cuba

SHOTLIST: HAVANA, CUBA, JAN 28, 2014, SOURCE: AFPTV - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arriving at the press conference SOUNDBITE 1 Ban Ki-moon (man), UN Secretary General (English, 29 sec): (talking about Fidel Castro) "I was very much touched and deeply impressed first of all by he's very spiritually alert and even physically he was very strong as far as I saw. His voice was very clear and he was covering all of the global issues." - VAR of the press conference SOUNDBITE 2 Ban Ki-moon (man), UN Secretary General (English, 17 sec): "He emphasized the importance of United Nations having greater authority and strength and capacity in dealing with global issues, I really appreciated his such vision." - VAR of the press conference SOUNDBITE 3 Ban Ki-moon (man), UN Secretary General (English, 19 sec): "Issue of human rights is the one which I always discuss with the world leaders wherever, whenever I meet. During my meeting with the leadership of Cuban government I have discussed this matter." - VAR of the press conference /// -------------------------------------------------- AFP TEXT STORY: UN chief pushes Cuba on 'arbitrary detentions' / Havana (Cuba) - 29 January 2014 10:40 - AFP UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said he pressed Communist Cuba's government on arbitrary detentions of dissidents, on the sidelines of a major summit. Cuban dissidents had planned to hold a gathering on the fringes of the CELAC bloc of 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations under way in the Cuban capital Havana on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were to discuss the human rights situation in the Americas' only one-party Communist state. But the parallel event's host, Manuel Cuesta Morua, was detained -- as were scores more in the run-up to the gathering, dissidents have said. Ban on Monday met Cuban President Raul...